JUSTEN NEWTON
The Blue Collar Scholar
Roofing for Belmar's brick storefronts, the bungalows toward Green Mountain, and the older stock around Morse Park and Applewood. Denver metro, and landmark roofs nationwide.
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Serving Lakewood·Denver Metro & Front Range
Lakewood's older ground comes in pockets. Belmar's brick storefronts, the bungalows climbing toward Green Mountain, the older stock around Morse Park and Applewood: different pockets of the same city, same old roofs nobody's checked since the last hailstorm rolled through.
Front Range hail doesn't skip anyone. A roof near Belmar Park, the Lakewood Heritage Center, or the Colorado Mills area takes the same beating as one in Golden or Denver, and Golden and the foothills are close enough to see from a Lakewood roofline. The same standard applies here as anywhere else clay or slate went up a century ago: match the tile, respect the headlap, and do the ugly work before the pretty part goes back on.
Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner on West Colfax Avenue is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: City of Lakewood (opens in a new tab)NOAA's Storm Events Database lists one report of hail 1 inch or larger within two miles of its Lakewood reference point, January 2019 through June 2026. It was 1.25-inch hail on June 29, 2023.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1109261 (opens in a new tab)| Date | Hail | Distance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 29, 2023 | 1.25 in | 1.06 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1109261 |
Showing all 1 report of 1 inch or larger within two miles, 2019 to 2026.
NOAA NCEI Storm Events database. Reports lag about three months.
Custom Ludowici clay, hand-slushed with battered butts — 128 squares in a three-color blend, full insurance restoration in Denver. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Full tear-off and re-deck — 2,500 squares of Boral Tejas España tile, battens and field reinstalled across the complex. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
DaVinci slate in a black-and-grey blend — 396 squares total, custom copper-and-lead turret work on a full insurance replacement. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Free inspections·A written scope·No pressure on the porch
One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house. Documented, preserved, and put back better than the archives remember it.
Fired clay that outlives its warranty by a century. Matched, milled, and hung by hands that know every profile in the catalog.
Stone laid to shed water for a hundred years. Cut, hung, and headlapped like it has to prove it every day.
The dangerous work nobody photographs. Brought down under negative air by certified crews — contained, cleared, and manifested — so the beautiful work can begin.
Walk the roof and write it down: pitch, headlap, fastener type, valley metal. A Belmar storefront and a Green Mountain bungalow fail in different spots, so the survey follows the building, not a checklist.
The moment the old roof opens, the building gets covered. Temporary dry-in holds against the next Front Range storm while salvage, abatement and staging do their slow work.
Keep what is sound. Specify clay or slate to match color, profile and thickness against the Morse Park and Applewood stock, and confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts.
Decking is sistered, ice-and-water shield goes in at every valley near Bear Creek and Green Mountain, slate goes on copper, and headlap is sized to the pitch.
A clean manifest, photos and warranty paperwork where it applies. The notes cover what was under the old roof, for whoever keeps the building next.
Belmar's brick storefronts and the older stock around Morse Park don't fail as stone — they fail at the details, same as anywhere: a rusted fastener, headlap shaved thin to stretch a square, a valley patched in whatever was cheapest at the time. A Lakewood roof gets the same standard as one three towns over, with no exceptions for the neighborhood.
A clay roof near Belmar or the Colorado Mills area deserves the exact profile Ludowici fired for it, not the nearest match on a pallet. Salvage comes off graded, sound tile goes back where it shows, and new fired clay gets blended through the field so the patch disappears instead of standing out on a roofline people on those streets look at every day.
Lakewood's older roofs have survived plenty of contractors who skipped the underlayment because the tile on top still looked fine. Decking gets sistered and ice-and-water shield goes in at every valley near Bear Creek and Green Mountain, and none of it shows from the street — until it's the reason the roof is still dry after the next Front Range hailstorm blows through.
“The archives remember what the roof looked like. My job is to make the roof agree.”
— Justen Newton
The pretty part is the clay. The century is everything underneath it. Walk the layers.
Lakewood's older stock around Morse Park and Applewood has had decades to show what holds. Ludowici clay and quarried slate last a century or more, and the underlayment, flashing and fasteners beneath them are what usually fail first, not the tile or stone.
Yes. Ludowici's catalog and graded salvage drive the match. A clay roof near Belmar or the Colorado Mills area gets the exact profile fired for it, sound tile goes back where it shows, and new fired clay is blended through so the patch disappears.
Repair first. Slate on a bungalow or a Belmar storefront rarely fails as stone; it fails at a rusted fastener, a shaved headlap, a cheap valley. Correct those and the roof carries on. Replacement is the last resort, never the opening bid.
On older and mid-century buildings, often. Transite and older membranes come off under negative air, with certified crews and a clean manifest, before a single new course goes on. The survey identifies it before the work is scoped.
Yes. Lakewood's older buildings include Belmar's storefronts, the bungalows toward Green Mountain, and Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner on West Colfax, which is individually on the National Register. The work starts with a site visit and a written scope, whether the roof is near Bear Creek or Colorado Mills.
Steep-slope craftsman. Historic clay and slate. One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house.
Seventeen years on landmark roofs nationwide. Ludowici clay, premium slate, and asbestos abatement handled by the book. When the roof carries the building’s story, the work travels.
Pick the closest match. The inquiry form fills in the roof for you.
Selected: . Go to the form
Tell Justen what you are seeing. He usually calls back within one business day. The inspection is free. Next comes a site visit, then a written scope. No pressure on the porch.
Justen sells and personally runs high-end roofing jobs, usually through Precision Construction and Roofing, and consults independently.
31 points, 6 sections. Print it before the site visit, or take it to the board.
Get the checklist